Located in the north of Germany, Leer/East Frisia based brutal Death-band DESPONDENCY was founded in the spring of 1999 by Dirk Janssen (drums) and Steffen Ilm (guitar). Approximately two months later vocalist Konstantin Lühring, Heiko Lewin (guitar) and Patrick Schwarz (bass) completed the young band. After some little quarrels in the line-up Heiko is nowadays playing bass, and Mike who joined the band in early 2002 is responsible for the second guitar.
The music of DESPONDENCY can be described as strongly influenced by the brutal US-Death Metal style whilst the band tries to mix the inspirations of single bands in order to create an own unique sound - the DESPONDENCY style! Nevertheless, as we take it, comparisons with other bands of this genre cannot be avoided. DESPONDENCY only plays the music they like and would listen to personally - brutal, fast, right-in-your-face Death Metal!
Lyricwise, the band deals with the hopeless existence of the vermin called humans on planet earth. Thus the lyrical themes cover anything from aggressive, hate filled descriptions of absurd modern reality to spotlights on hidden instincts of the human mind resulting in unimaginable brutality and even to a few surrealistic hints at the hypocrisy and falsehood of religious syndicates, all summarized to a reflection on the total worthlessness of humanity.
DESPONDENCY's debut MCD "Extinction" (500 copies/sold out), including six songs / 20 minutes of fast brutal Death Metal, was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jörg Uken at the Soundlodge studio (e.g. Obscenity's "Intense" album) within a week in February 2001 and was professionally pressed and published as a self-financed recording by the band itself. The MCD was promoted and traded worldwide and this led to an overall positive and rather enthusiastic feedback and cooperation with fans and bands from all over the globe.
The Promo CD-R "Womb of Shit", recorded again at the Soundlodge studio, included three brand new tracks and was released in December 2002. This new offering was mainly for promotional use and should increase the good reputation DESPONDENCY had already gained in the scene as well as to interest a label to sign the band. After receiving many offers from interested labels, finally Revenge Productions from Germany won the race as they were convinced of the band's quality immediately, and so DESPONDENCY signed to them in March 2003.
In October 2003 the first full length CD called "God on Acid" was released on Revenge Productions. Recorded once again in the Soundlodge studio, it consists of nine ultra fast and brutal US-style Death Metal tracks, clad in the most professional and heavy sound DESPONDENCY ever had. This new output marks a big step forwards for the band and is going to be one of the most relentless Death Metal albums coming from Europe so far! "God on Acid" was once more highly acclaimed by the press and, more important, the fans of brutal music, and proved again the outstanding character of the band.
Concerning live gigs, DESPONDENCY has played a good amount of shows in the years of the group's existence. For example, the band was a part of the Ear Terror Festival 2001, the Ludwigshafen Deathfest 2002 & 2003, the Fuck the Commerce VI 2003, the first NRW Deathfest 2003, the second Gothenburg Deathfest 2003, the Obscene Extreme 2004 and the Mountains of Death 2004 together with many smaller gigs, and furthermore supported, together with Godless Truth, Texas/US based - Prophecy´s european Tour in 2004. The bands shared stage with include famous and well known names like Disavowed, Pyaemia, Wormed, Hate Plow, Cephalic Carnage, Suffocation and Internal Suffering among others. In October 2004 DESPONDENCY toured again 10 days throughout Europe, this time with czech slammers Godless Truth and the greek band Inveracity.
Womb of Shit, Womb Of Shit, 9mm Headfuck, Viral Humanicide,
